


Don’t Judge A Book by Its Cover

by peterbparkerr



Series: Don’t Judge A Book by Its Cover [1]
Category: tom holland - Fandom
Genre: Attempted robbery, F/M, Fluff, Sexual Tension, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 10:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18776605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterbparkerr/pseuds/peterbparkerr
Summary: You are a freshman in college who moved into your NYC apartment with your best friend. Yet, what unexpectedly came with the apartment were the two rowdy boys next door who were from London, where one would steal your heart, despite how much you hated him.





	1. Don’t Judge A Book by Its Cover

“Finally!” you said, adding the final touch to your bedroom. You plopped down onto the new sheets and shut your eyes, unable to believe that you finally escaped the small town in Michigan where you were born and raised for the past 18 years. You daydreamed of the possibilities New York City had to offer you and couldn’t imagine going on this journey without your best friend who moved into the bedroom next to yours.

Your daydreaming was disrupted when you heard loud screaming from the hallway outside. You got up angrily, and marched your way to the apartment door and looked through the peephole. There you saw two boys skateboarding up and down the hallway.

When you opened the door, you yelled “Can you guys keep it down!?” at the rowdy, but attractive boys.

The dark hair, slim stature boy skated his way towards you and halted right in front of you, making you jump back, “If you’ll learn one thing about us, sweetheart,” he had a British accent, “is that we don’t follow the rules or care what anyone else thinks. You can head back to whatever you were doing in your —,” he looked above my head into my apartment, “your mediocre flat.”

You rolled your eyes right at him, clearly annoyed.

“You’re pathetic, you’re clearly overcompensating for something! You think a petty insult is going to upset me, you have to try harder than that, —”, you wanted to say a name, but you didn’t know it.

“Tom,” he smiled sarcastically, “nice to meet you.”

“Yeah right. You’re an asshole.”

With that, you just shut the door, so you wouldn’t have to listen to Tom anymore.

A few weeks had passed since your first and only interaction with Tom, but it didn’t mean he was out of your life. Every Friday and Saturday evening, you could hear the music blasting from next door. You would usually just put the TV really loud or put headphones in, but tonight you couldn’t take it anymore since you had a 15-page paper you were working on. In your pajamas and slippers, you went downstairs to the complex’s office and complained to an employee about the disturbance.

You let security deal with the problem and went back into your apartment and continued working on your paper. You finally heard the music abruptly stop.

“That’ll teach them,” you said to yourself.

About 20 minutes into typing away, a loud knock makes you jolt up from your chair. You walked towards the door, not thinking to peep through the hole, you open it and see a clearly visible, upset Tom.

“What the hell?! You complained didn’t you?” Tom said.

You crossed your arms and rested your weight on your left leg, “Could’ve been anyone. Why does it have to be me?”

He scoffed and laughed, “You’ve been after me since day one, —,” he was stumped since he didn’t know your name.

“(Y/N), nice to meet you, Tom,” you replied with satisfaction and a smirk.

“I’ll get you back, (Y/N). I don’t know how, but I will.”

He left after his unthreatening threat.

You were out late, later than usual, since you were studying for a big exam that evening at the university’s library. As you were walking back to the apartment, you felt a presence behind you, so you turned your head and nobody was there. You shrugged your shoulders and thought it might be your paranoia acting up since you’ve never been out so late alone. When you got to your apartment building and made your way up the steps, an unknown person grabbed your mouth and held you close to them.

“Give me your bag!” the unknown man demanded. You tried and fought your hardest; you licked and then bit his hand. That was enough to let his hand fall and you screamed as loud as possible. You heard a door swing open.

“Let her go!” a familiar British accent yelled. Tom grabbed the robber by the back and threw him against the wall, scaring him off. You were left crying on the cold floor of the hallway.

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Tom said sincerely, sitting next to you on the floor.

You wiped your face, “Why do you care?”

“Because that was scary because you’re crying.”

With that, you cried and buried your head into his chest. He was taken back by your actions, but he instantly wrapped his arms around you, “It’s going to be okay. You’re okay. No one else is going to hurt you.”

“How are you so sure?” you questioned, looking up at him, in your most vulnerable state.

“Because you have me,” he said as he looked at you.

“No I don’t, you hate me and I hate you. You make my life a living hell with the partying and the skateboarding up and down the hall,” you confessed to him.

“I do it because when I laid eyes on you on the first day of move-in, I needed reasons to see you again. Every time I’m causing a ruckus, I hope you’ll come out and put me in my place because I fell for the pretty girl next door.”

You blushed because no boy has ever had a crush on you. “I thought you were handsome when I saw you that day, but knew the good girl couldn’t possibly be with the bad boy next door, especially the one she hated the most.”

He laughed, “I’m not a bad boy, (Y/N). Skateboarding down the hall was going to be a onetime thing until I saw you. Also, I don’t throw parties, the loud music on the weekends was to get your attention, so I could have an excuse to knock on your door, knowing you would report me, eventually.”

You shook your head and laughed under your breath, unable to believe that he went through all this to see you. “You know you could’ve just asked me out like a normal person, right?”

“Well, the thing is I didn’t know how to because you hated me from day one and knew you would probably say no.”

“You’re right, I would’ve,” you said.

“C’mon, let’s get you inside,” Tom said as he got up and reached his hand out which you took and he helped pull you up.

You opened your door and invited Tom in, with a yawn.

“You should go to bed. I can let myself out,” he said.

“No, wait, can you stay?” you grabbed his arm. “I’m still shaken up. I won’t be able to sleep tonight and I have my exam in the morning. Please, Tom.”

He nodded, “Let me go get some pajamas really quick next door and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll go change. Knock when you’re back,” you said as he nodded back at you and exited the apartment.

As you walked to your bedroom, you couldn’t help but smile, despite what had just happened to you. As you changed, you thought Tom wasn’t who you thought he was, he was a complete 180. Falling in love was the one thing you never daydreamed about because you didn’t see it happening to you so soon. A knock interrupted your thinking and you walked quickly to the door.

When you opened the door, Tom stood in his plaid sleeping shorts and a white t-shirt, “Ready for bed, (Y/N)?”

You nodded and grabbed his hand and lead him to your bedroom, which was illuminated by your bedside table’s lamp. Without a second thought, you climbed into your bed and chose your side of it and Tom followed. He reached over your body to turn off the light and held you close in his arms.

“Goodnight, (Y/N),” he said softly, kissing the top of your head.


	2. Three Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get nervous saying those three words to Tom.

It had been a few months since everything happened that night. It almost didn't feel real. One second you were getting robbed, the next Tom was in your bed, keeping you safe.

 Right now, everything was pure bliss. The first semester was coming to a close with only a few final exams left. You and Tom were distant during this time because you both had to study for your exams and thought that would be the most productive. Also, with some persuading and your parents meeting Tom at Thanksgiving, they allowed you to go spend Christmas break with Tom and his family in London. You were so excited because you had never flown outside of the country. However, you were nervous because you had never met his family before. They know of you because Tom talks about you all the time when he's on the phone with his mom. He always assured you that they'll love you once they meet you and that was able to put your mind at ease kind of.

You were sat on your bed, completing a practice exam for your communications class, when you heard the doorbell. You got up and went to the door, opening it, and there you saw Tom with Chinese take-out and some movies.

"I miss you. Can we take a break from studying? Calculus isn't fun," he pleaded.

You couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, "Only one movie, and then I have to get back to studying," you replied.

"Okay deal."

He let himself in, placing a soft kiss on your lips as he made his way to your room.

"Can you get some forks?!" he shouted from the down the hall.

"On it!" you said as you went to the kitchen and grabbed two forks and then marched towards your room where Tom was putting in Captain America: The First Avenger. He knew that was one of your favorite movies. You took your laptop and papers off the bed and started laying out the food across the bed.

You both sat next to each other, eating in silence as you watched weak Steve Rogers transform into the courageous Captain America. After you finished eating, you noticed that it was 10 p.m. and the movie was nowhere near over so you just wrapped your arms around Tom's thin body and rested your head. He kissed your head and brushed your hair softly with his fingers.

You felt yourself drifting off, "I'm going to sleep...," you mumbled and dozed off on him. He chuckled and removed himself softly and cleaned up the mess while you were asleep. When he returned he covered you and slipped into bed with you, holding you closely, which was enough to wake you up again.

"I'm scared," you admitted in a soft tone.

"Why?" He wondered.

"London. Your parents."

"(Y/N), there's nothing to be scared of. Remember that night? When I told you no one will hurt you. I meant it."

He held you closer and you felt his nose bury into your hair.

You turned your head to face him and stared into his brown eyes, studying everything about him. He was perfect. You didn't know how you were so lucky to have someone like him. It's been almost four months since you two started dating, but you hadn't said those three small words to each other.

Your heart pounded rapidly, felt like it was going to come out of your chest as you thought about saying those words. You looked straight at him and took a small breath, mustering up the courage, "I love you."

You went into a panic when his eyes widen, you said it and wanted to take it back. You said it too soon. He didn't feel the same way, "T– Tom, say something. Please. I feel like such an idiot, I said it too soon. You're going to br–," but your words were cut off with his lips slamming onto yours.

"Shut up, (Y/N), I love you too."

“You do?”

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be taking you to London if I didn’t.”

“You asked me about London in November! You loved me then?!” you exclaimed.

“I did, but didn’t want to scare you by saying it first, so I told myself I would wait for you to say it first.”

“I hate you. You sent me into panic mode! I was terrified you weren’t going to feel the same way,” you said as you dug your elbow slowly into his side and then held him close.

“I’m sorry love, you know I don’t ever want to hurt you,” he said and kissed you softly. “I love you so much. You know I’ve never been in love. You’re my first. No one liked me back home. I was a weird teenager who liked comic books and movies too much. My roommate and you are the only ones who get me.”

You smiled so big and kissed him passionately, like never before.

You straddled him and continued kissing him, as you felt his hand crawl up your shirt. You had never gone this far with him and it felt brand new. You broke the kiss and stayed on him, as he kept his hands on your lower back. You couldn’t stop blushing.

“You’re so beautiful, (Y/N). How did I find you?” he said.

“Well, you kind of skateboarded into my life,” you chuckled and bent down to kiss him.

“That is true,” he said and kissed back.

You got off of him and laid back down, “Are you staying over?” you asked.

“If you want me to.”

“When do I ever say no to cuddles?”

You giggled and rested your head on his chest. You couldn’t have been happier than right now. You felt at peace with Tom. He made you feel safe especially after what had happened months earlier. He never left your side and was always willing to come to study late at the library. You never knew of anyone who would go out of their way for you as Tom did.

“What are you thinking about now?” he said.

“Us and how happy I am. I’m excited for London now. Those three words made me more at ease. I love you,” you said as he stroked your hair and drifted off to sleep for the night.

 


End file.
